


it's nice to have a friend

by jules8178



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: Coming Out, Coming of Age, F/F, Fluff with a side of angst, Friendship, Kid Fic, Pre-Relationship, Sleepovers, Teasing, aka lots of friendship before they get older and realize they have crushes on each other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-15
Updated: 2020-01-15
Packaged: 2021-02-19 05:41:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22272691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jules8178/pseuds/jules8178
Summary: lindsey moves to georgia from colorado in second grade, where she meets emily sonnett at her new catholic school.through the years, the friendship between the two girls grows to be an inseparable one. but will it end up being something more?
Relationships: Lindsey Horan/Emily Sonnett
Comments: 4
Kudos: 38





	it's nice to have a friend

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you enjoy :)

in 2005, when lindsey is seven years old and about to begin second grade, her parents sat her down and broke the news: her dad’s work had transferred him from denver, colorado, to a new city in a far away state, atlanta, georgia. in a month, her family would be moving from their home in golden to a town near her dad’s new job, a town called marietta (lindsey was confused by the name of the town - wasn’t marietta the name of a spaghetti sauce?). 

the move went as smoothly as a cross-country move could go, and soon lindsey found herself standing outside the doors of her new school, st. ann’s, waiting to go inside and start her first day of class. she stood nervously by her mom’s side, wearing her plaid jumper that hit well below her knees, a bright pink britney spears backpack filled with school supplies on her back.

soon, it was time for her mom to leave, and lindsey was proud, because she was a big girl and didn’t cry at all! (the quiet tears and sniffles on the car ride there didn’t count). she found her way to her classroom, introduced herself to her teacher, a nice lady named mrs. scott (so she said “hi, i’m lindsey” in a very quiet voice while looking at the floor, but it still counts!), and sat down at her desk, one of four set up in a square.   
getting to the room before all the other kids because she was new, lindsey took the extra time she had to take in the colorful classroom. looking around at the other desks, she took note of the other names: mallory, emily, rose. she started to wonder what the other girls at her table would look like, looking forward to when the rest of the class arrived. she also began to wonder if they would be nice- maybe she could be their friend? she thought she was a good friend, but she seemed to always have trouble making friends at her old school, her only real friend being one of her older brother’s friends who would come over to play soccer in the backyard and was always nice to her. her name was tobin, and lindsey missed her a lot now that she’d moved away. when tobin was over, she would help teach lindsey how to play soccer, always encouraging her to keep trying and never laughing when she tried too hard to kick the ball and fell over.

so, she worried that her struggle to make friends would only be worse as the new kid at the small catholic school.   
one by one, kids started to flow into the classroom, sitting down excitedly at their desks, lindsey still waiting nervously for her tablemates to arrive.  
soon, the girl named mallory arrived, and lindsey was taken aback by how small the girl was. quietly, the two introduced themselves, lindsey explaining her move from colorado and mallory explaining how she skipped first grade, so she was like a new kid too. lindsey and mallory, who soon mentioned that she went by ‘mal,’ continued talking, finding comfort in their shared nervousness.

a minute before the bell was set to ring, a brunette and a blonde skipped into the room, laughing loudly to themselves about who-knows-what and causing everyone in the room to turn their heads towards them. as they plopped down in the seats across from lindsey and mal, excited to be next to each other, lindsey realized the boisterous girls were the rose and emily she was waiting on.

“hi, what’s your name?” the blonde, emily, asked lindsey with a big smile, her enthusiasm to meet lindsey catching her off-guard.  
“oh, um, it’s lindsey. i guess you’re emily?” lindsey responded, much quieter than emily had been.  
“whoa, how did you know that? are you magic?” emily asked with wide eyes.  
“no, no, it was on your nametag on your desk,” lindsey explained, now even shyer than before.  
“oh!” emily giggled, happy the mystery was solved.   
“you can call me sonny though! that’s what everyone calls me- i have a twin sister in the other class named emma, and everyone says it’s too hard to tell us apart when they’re calling us ‘emily’ and ‘emma,’” emily announced quickly, out of breath by the time she was done with the explanation.  
“and this is rose, she’s a little weird but i like her anyway-”  
“hey! I was gonna introduce myself, and don’t be mean! I am no weirder than you, son,” rose interrupted as she settled into the chair.

the bell rang and school began, their teacher introducing herself and explaining what they would be learning this year- a big word that started with an m in math (‘multipli-something,’ thought lindsey), the solar system in science, the cultures of other states and countries in history, cursive writing (most kids groaned at this but lindsey was excited!). they’d be preparing for their first communion and reconciliation in religion class too, and lindsey was looking forward to going shopping with her mom for a pretty white dress. and, mrs. scott explained, there would be plenty of time for reading with designated time every day, and they would have special classes like art, computers, and p.e. (lindsey noticed how emi- sonny’s face lit up at the mention of art class).

as the days and weeks went on, lindsey found herself settling in nicely, enjoying what she was learning. she was only friends with mal, but she was okay with this. one good friend was an improvement to her last school. and, they had fun by themselves, teaching each other little songs and rhymes and the clapping motions that went along with them and playing hopscotch when a space opened up at recess. 

sonny and rose seemed nice, but their loud nature made lindsey nervous. lindsey would insist that she was not a teacher’s pet, but she just didn’t like to get in trouble, and there’s nothing wrong with that. and with sonny and rose getting scolded for talking in class multiple times a day, lindsey naturally kept her distance from the pair, not understanding how they could be so okay with being yelled at by mrs. scott and not wanting to get in trouble like them. 

now mid-september, lindsey found herself spending most her time observing her fellow classmates, as she tended to finish her work before the rest of the kids and had nothing better to do. without meaning to, she started paying extra attention to sonny. 

she noticed how sonny and her friend rose always whispered in class, thinking they’re quieter than they were, mrs. scott noticing and scolding them every time. she noticed how sonny missed school some days but seemed perfectly healthy the next day, which lindsey didn’t understand because isn’t perfect attendance important to everyone?? she noticed how sonny tended to tap her pencil on her desk during their reading time, making little beats and humming along until their teacher told her to stop so she doesn’t distract the other kids. she noticed how sonny switched to lightly tapping her foot and doodling in pencil on her desk, doing her best to keep quiet. she noticed how sonny always looked a little disheveled, like she rushed to not be late every morning. she noticed her shirt, poking out of her jumper; her hair, in a messy bun with big flyaways that are really just chunks of hair falling out of the bun and into her eyes; her shoes, always untied and causing her to nearly trip (and causing rose to laugh uncontrollably every time).   
so, a little more than a month into their new school year, sonny still made lindsey a little nervous. but, as nervous as she is, lindsey found herself fascinated by the shorter blonde for reasons she doesn’t understand. for now, she decided she just admired the girl for how fun she seemed to be and how easily she made friends, lindsey noticing her talking to new people every day.

the first week of october, a bright orange sheet of paper was sent home with all the girls in her grade, announcing tryouts for a soccer team. lindsey excitedly brought it to her mom after school, happy to have the chance to continue using the skills tobin had taught her in colorado. 

when the day of tryouts finally arrived, lindsey was a little nervous but mostly excited as her mom pulled into the parking lot of the park near the school. it was a warm saturday afternoon, and lindsey was wearing a too-big t-shirt, black adidas shorts, and bright pink tennis shoes, along with the pink headband she always wore.

looking around, she saw a number of familiar faces: rose and mal, and she was excited to see sonny. other girls from her class were there too: a tall girl named sam and her friend abby, a smiley brunette named morgan (and her little sister who had tagged along, tierna), and a girl named jane. there were girls from the other class there too that she didn’t recognize, but she would learn their names soon enough (aubrey, andi, caitlin, hayley, ellie, midge). also from the other class was a girl who looked a lot like sonny - lindsey was pretty proud she figured out she was emma.

soon, their coach, a lady named jill, gathered them into a circle and introduced herself and her goals for the team (to have fun and learn about the game of soccer), before having them go around the circle and say their name and their favorite animal (a difficult choice for lindsey, but she went with lions in the end, from one of her favorite movies).

introductions complete, jill had the girls split off into pairs, telling them to pick a buddy and start kicking a ball back and forth between them.

before lindsey could make her way to mal, sonny skipped over and tapped lindsey on her shoulder.  
“will you be my buddy?” sonny asked confidently.  
“oh, sure, but why not rose?” lindsey asked in return, looking over to see rose had approached mal in the same way.  
“i’m mad at her, she stole my favorite polly pocket. well, she swears she didn’t but where else could it be??” sonny explained, pouting.  
“okay, well yeah, that works,” lindsey responded, “have you ever played soccer before?”  
“no, never. have you?”   
“a little.”

the two girls began kicking the ball to each other, sonny noticeably struggling with the task a little more than lindsey. after what seemed to be the tenth time kicking the ball way past lindsey, sonny asked lindsey, whining slightly, “how are you so good at this?”   
“oh, my brother’s friend back home taught me how to play in my backyard. she was really good,” lindsey explained.  
“oh, cool. what’s her name?”  
“tobin.”  
“tobin? that’s a weird name,” sonny questioned.  
“i guess, yeah,” lindsey responded while kicking the ball back to sonny.

after a few minutes of passing the soccer ball in silence, with the exception of sonny stopping to say hi to everyone who walked past and the two girls giggling at sonny’s awful attempts at kicking the ball, sonny resumed their conversation.

“can we be friends?” sonny asked, a smile on her face but a hint of nerves in her voice.  
“oh, sure. why?” lindsey responded, having never been asked that before.  
“why does there have to be a why?”  
“i dunno, i was just wondering”  
“okay, well you’re really nice and i like your pink headbands and i like your smile-thingies,” sonny said, explaining her reasoning for friendship.  
“oh, um, thanks,” lindsey said shyly, not used to compliments, “my mom says they’re called dimples.”

friendship established, the girls continued their drill, asking about each other’s favorite colors and foods and if they had any pets. shortly before jill had the team gather back together to learn something new, sonny made an important announcement.

“lindsey, since we’re friends now, we need to have a secret handshake.”  
“okay,” lindsey responded with a giggle, “what do you want it to be?”  
“i dunno, we gotta come up with it together. how about we make one at recess on monday?” sonny clarified.  
“okay, i’d like that,” lindsey said with a smile, the smile on her face matching the one on sonny’s.

on monday morning, sonny made sure to say hi to lindsey with a bright smile before reminding her of their need to make a secret handshake at recess that day.

lindsey remembered some of the handshakes her brother would do with his friends, so when recess came and the pair ran off to sit by themselves under some pine trees, she suggested some of those to sonny. combining parts from those handshakes and their own ideas, the two blonde girls managed to decide on their special handshake by the end of recess: slapping their right hands together before dragging them across their arms and chests, and ending by wiggling their fingers above and below each other’s hands. naturally, there was a discussion on whose hand got to be on top, but in the end lindsey won out, insisting that that just made more sense since she was taller (causing sonny to pout but reluctantly agree).

soon the girls found themselves at soccer practice again, lindsey now only excited, her nervousness from the last week gone. still, she was surprised by sonny walking up to her when coach jill told them to break off into pairs again.

“will you be my buddy again?” sonny asked after skipping over with a bright smile, pigtails in her hair.  
“why, are you still mad at rose?” lindsey asked with a smile in return, but some confusion in her voice.  
“no, my polly pocket was actually in my backpack, i forgot i brought it to school to show sam at recess,” sonny explained, somewhat clearing things up for lindsey.  
“oh,” lindsey said with a giggle, “but you still wanna be buddies?”  
“well yeah, we’re soccer buddies now so we gotta stay together,” sonny responded, like it should’ve been clear to lindsey.

since the beginning of those soccer practices, sonny and lindsey continued to grow closer and closer, their friendship expanding beyond the field.

……………….  
……………….

by the time they were in fourth grade, lindsey and sonny were completely inseparable. 

at soccer practice, they always fought to be on the same team, groaning loudly and playfully putting up a fight when coach jill decided to separate them for scrimmages. luckily for them, they could always be warm-up and drill buddies, improving their skills and technique, both having improved greatly from what they started with a couple years ago. (and, their team had gotten much better as a whole, beating most of the teams they played, an improvement their parents were very thankful for.)

at school, they were lucky enough to be in the same class each year, though their teachers now knew to separate sonny from her friends if they ever wanted her to stop talking (the joke’s on them though, because she made new friends wherever she was placed). still, the girls’ always sat next to each other at lunch, sharing their cold lunches brought from home (sonny always begging for some of lindsey’s lunchable on the days her mom was in a rush and packed her one).

and at recess, lindsey and sonny were almost always playing soccer, whether it was just the two of them or with their other friends on the soccer team. (the only exceptions came when it was too muddy to play or when it was too cold or rainy for outdoor recess. on those days, the pair joined the rest of their friends in playing four square and hopscotch, and down-by-the-banks, respectively.)

one day at recess, the two blondes were kicking the ball back and forth between them, not trying too hard as they were also updating each other on what they did that weekend. as they were doing that, two boys from the class who were known to be a bit more mean-spirited ran up to them.

“ha! you play like girls!” one of the boys, named ryan, taunted.  
lindsey and sonny looked at each other, a mix of confusion and annoyance on their faces.  
“yeah, you’re not even good but you hog the soccer ball every day! give it to us, it’s our turn now,” the other boy, dylan, added on.  
“no, we had it first, and there’s other balls!” sonny retorted, hoping the boys would just go away.

“god, we could be you so easily! how about this, we play each other, us versus you two, and whoever wins gets dibs on the soccer ball for the rest of the year!” ryan challenged arrogantly.  
“you’re on, let’s play,” lindsey responded with confidence, bold in the way she could only be when soccer was involved.

the four kids proceeded to play, kicking the ball back and forth while using trees on each side of the playground’s yard as their goalposts. with the rest of their teammates watching and cheering them on, lindsey and sonny beat the two boys with ease, connecting passes, stealing the ball away from the boys, and kicking it into the goal repeatedly.

as the recess monitor blew her whistle and signaled for everyone to come inside, the two boys looked relieved to be done losing to the two smaller blondes, running towards the entrance of the school while lindsey and sonny did their handshake and hugged before going to high five their teammates.

fourth grade proved more difficult school-wise for sonny, who was struggling to keep up with that year’s increased workload. she just found herself so easily distracted in class, more focused on working on the detailed drawing in her notebook than listening to her teacher’s words. she really wanted to do well, especially when she’d see lindsey’s a+’s on her math tests and hearing about emma’s good grades on her book reports and social studies projects. but, she found herself struggling to figure out how to do better.

lindsey and sonny often had sleepovers at each other’s houses, eating dinner and playing games with each other’s families before hanging out in each other’s rooms, sometimes watching movies or painting each other’s nails but always talking for hours before falling asleep on the bed.

at one of these sleepovers, one where they had ended up just talking all night, sonny got the courage to bring up something a little more heavy than their usual talks about the annoying boys in their grade and stories about rose’s silly antics.  
“linds?” sonny started with.  
“yeah, son?”  
“my parents are bringing me to a doctor soon,” sonny continued, trying to find the right words to explain what was going on with her.  
“why, are you sick?” lindsey quickly asked, concerned.  
“no! well, not like that. they think i have something called, um,” sonny thought for a second, “adhd.”  
“oh, what’s that?” lindsey asked curiously.  
“it stands for something but i don’t remember what. but they think that’s why i’m always fidgeting and moving and don’t pay attention in class,” sonny did her best to explain.  
“well, that’s good i think, a doctor helps you get better so that means you can get better!” lindsey reasoned.  
“yeah, i guess so,” sonny said, her mind still full of thoughts, but lindsey’s words making her feel somewhat better.

a couple months later, after sonny had officially been diagnosed with adhd and had begun treatment, she found herself able to pay attention in class much more easily, and found her grades improving. of course, she was still doing great in art class, gaining all the praise from their teacher, miss heather, who always loved seeing what sonny was working on. 

(lindsey found herself a little jealous of all these compliments, as she couldn’t draw for the life of her. last week, she tried to draw her dog playing in the park, and miss heather told her that her horse looked fantastic as she walked by, causing lindsey to sigh loudly. for the most part, though, lindsey was just impressed by her best friend’s talent, excited to see the new things sonny drew.)

she was still struggling in math though, and lindsey noticed how nervous she got before math tests and how upset she got each time they got back their timed multiplication and division tests. as hard as she tried, she just couldn’t seem to do better on them. so, at their next sleepover, lindsey offered to help her study for math, saying sonny could come over after school to practice with the flashcards her mom had given her for christmas. 

accepting the help after only a little resistance and hesitation, sonny began to go home with lindsey and her mom on wednesday after school so lindsey could help her with math. after mrs. horan made them a snack, lindsey would help sonny memorize those flashcards she hated, always staying encouraging and doing her best to keep sonny from getting too off track. sonny would stay for dinner those nights, her mom picking her up from lindsey’s house on her way back from picking up emma from her dance practice.

……………...  
……………...

by sixth grade, not much had changed for lindsey and sonny, the two girls still attached at the hip. but of course, it was sixth grade, so the girls in their class were beginning to hit puberty, feeling more ugly than ever before.

at twelve years old, lindsey had found herself taller than all the other girls in the class, with the exception of sam, while sonny found herself as short as ever.

as much as lindsey loved to poke fun at sonny for her smaller stature, she wouldn’t let anyone else tease the girl for it, especially not the boys in her class. 

one day, lindsey was walking back from the bathroom when she saw two boys standing near the wall, a smaller figure stuck between their lanky bodies and the cinderblock covered wall. 

as she walked towards them, she could hear some of the words they were saying to the smaller person:  
“hey, where’s your pot of gold, leprechaun?”  
“are you ever gonna grow? or will you just be a midget forever?”  
“also, do you ever shut up?”  
“really, i don’t get how anyone can stand to be friends with you, as annoying as you are.”

quickly walking closer, wanting to put a stop to the taunting words, she saw that the boys were the same ones who challenged her and sonny a couple years back and that the smaller figure was in fact sonny.

“hey! get away from her!” lindsey yelled angrily, shoving the boys away with ease (it helped that she was taller than them).  
“oh, look, your giant friend is coming down from her beanstalk and coming to your rescue,” dylan teased, a smirk on his face.  
“well now we know she has one friend,” ryan said to dylan, laughing as he walked away, pulling the other boy with him.

the boys now gone, lindsey moved to check on sonny.  
“you okay, em? they didn’t touch you, right?” lindsey asked, concerned sonny was physically hurt as well.  
“no, nothing like that. yeah, i think so. or i will be. thanks for that,” sonny responded, still sounding a little shaken up.  
“always.” 

later that year, rose was having a sleepover for her birthday, inviting lindsey, sonny, mal, and sam over for the night. after eating pizza and birthday cake, the girls gathered in rose’s basement, laying in a circle, on their stomachs with pillows propped up under their arms, ready to gossip about the rest of their class.

it didn’t take long for mal to bring up her crush on the new kid in class, dansby, which prompted rose to excitedly demand everyone in the circle share their crush too.   
first up was sam, who shyly shared her liking for one of the quieter boys in their class, patrick.  
next was lindsey, who announced that she had a crush on zac efron (causing rose to protest greatly- “we all do, you have to choose someone from our grade!”)  
“well i don’t have anyone else,” lindsey answered back, shrugging.  
“ugh, fine! I’ll go!” rose declared, tired of listening to the others talk about their crushes and ready to share her crush on a boy from summer camp, who she’s still pen pals with.

meanwhile, sonny had sat in silence this entire time, racking her brain to find someone in the class she found cute (and failing).  
“sonny, your turn!” rose announced, turning eagerly towards her.

at this point, sonny was completely in her head, as she was realizing she had never had a crush on a boy like she was supposed to. but then, hearing her friends talk about their crushes and what they liked about them, sonny began to think about how she had thought vanessa hudgens was really pretty when her sister made her watch high school musical, and thought she really wanted to be friends with the main girl in sky high, one of her favorite movies. were those crushes?? 

“sonny!” rose repeated louder.  
“oh, i don’t have one,” sonny said plainly, now broken out of her racing thoughts.  
“nuh-uh, don’t think you can get away with not telling me your crush. it’s my birthday, you have to tell me!” rose argued.  
“your birthday’s tomorrow,” sonny responded with a small smile, trying to get out of this conversation.  
“it’s almost midnight and that is not the point! who is it? jake? andrew? matthew?” rose said, desperate for any clue of who sonny’s elusive crush was.  
“i guess andrew’s kind of cute,” sonny conceded.  
“ooooo, sonny has a crush on andrew!” rose responded in a sing-song voice, proud of her ability to work the information out of sonny.

rose satisfied, the conversation resumed its gossipy ways, now moving on to talk about the war the sixth grade boys were fighting with the seventh graders, boys in their class sharpening rulers to use as shanks at recess, how much they hated the new polos they had to wear every day, and how annoying it was that they couldn’t wear makeup or nail polish to school. while happily taking part in these talks, lindsey did notice how sonny was quiet the rest of the night, never taking part in the conversations like she had at the beginning of the night.

in the week after, sonny did her best to push the thoughts of crushes aside, not wanting to come to the conclusion she was scared of. after all, she was a kid who had been raised catholic in the middle of the south, and, going to catholic school, she only knew other kids like her and had never met a gay person (as far as she knew). still, despite her best efforts, the train of thought prompted at that sleepover stayed on her mind.

at a sleepover with just lindsey the next friday, after they’d eaten mac n’ cheese with lindsey’s parents and brother and gone upstairs to relax on lindsey’s bed, sonny decides to share (part of) what was on her mind.  
“what do you think of gay people?” sonny asked, not making eye contact with lindsey.  
“i don’t know, why are you asking?” lindsey responded, brows furrowing together.  
“just wondering,” sonny quickly answered, not wanting to raise suspicion.

“is this about the sleepover last week?” lindsey asked, her tone softer and more knowing than before.  
“what about it?” sonny said feigning ignorance, voice now slightly higher.  
“son… you don’t have to pretend with me,” lindsey said softly, reaching out and taking sonny’s hand to hold it in her own.  
“how did you know?” sonny said in a whisper, eyes studying every detail in the bedspread.  
“you got really quiet when we were talking about boys and i could see you thinking hard, you don’t normally do that,” lindsey explained, with a little humor in her voice to lighten the mood.  
“hey!” sonny protested, slapping lindsey’s arm lightly, “i do too!”

waiting for sonny to continue speaking and not wanting to scare her into clamming up, lindsey let there be a moment of silence.  
“i think i like girls,” sonny confessed in the same whisper as before, admitting it for the first time both out loud and to herself.  
“okay,” lindsey responded  
“okay?” sonny asked, finally looking up, face full of confusion.  
“yeah, okay, that doesn’t make any difference to me, em,” lindsey explained.  
“it doesn’t?” sonny questioned, a tear pooling in the corner of her eye.  
“no, it doesn’t” lindsey said in her most comforting tone as she moved closer to give sonny the hug she knew she needed.  
hugging sonny tightly, lindsey could feel a few tears dripping onto her shirt, but she chose not to say anything- she knew sonny needed this moment to let her tears out.

after a minute or two, lindsey broke the silence they had created.  
“you know i love you, right?” lindsey reassured.  
“i love you too,” son whispered back, relieved to have opened up to her best friend.

“now, do you wanna watch the clique?” lindsey asked, letting sonny move on from her moment of vulnerability without any questioning.  
“that movie’s so dumb. i’m down,” sonny said with a laugh.  
“i know, i hate that i like it,” lindsey said with a groan, moving to find the dvd and place it into her dvd player.  
the pair settled into lindsey’s bed, sharing her plush blanket and watching the movie on the little tv on her dresser before dozing off to sleep.

……………  
……………

in eighth grade, so much more changed for the two girls. not because they themselves changed, but because of circumstances outside of their control. in july before eighth grade was set to begin, sonny’s parents sat her and emma down, explaining that he was being transferred to orlando, florida, and that they would be moving there.

sonny could feel the world falling out from under her. as soon as the conversation was done, she messaged lindsey, asking her to come over as soon as she could.

lindsey, having no clue what was happening and worried something was wrong with sonny, rode her bike over to sonny’s house as quickly as she could.

sonny broke the news to lindsey, the two girls crying in each other’s arms, scared of what this would mean for their friendship. they knew things would be changing this year with graduation and everyone getting phones, but they didn’t expect anything like this. how could they?


End file.
